How Can We Generate More Sales?
The packaging industry has many types of businesses, including manufacturers, distributors, design firms, fulfillment services, brokers, brick-and-mortar retailers and e-commerce firms. Many businesses specialize in verticals, including food and beverage, pharmaceutical and automotive. And, these businesses may serve local, regional, national and global markets.
What do these diverse packaging companies have in common? They need to generate more sales. Internet marketing is a big part of the equation, and for many successful firms, the biggest part.
Consider:
- Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches every day.
- About ¾ of the U.S. population uses mobile devices to browse the Internet.
- Packaging-related search terms are tremendously popular on Google and other major search engines.
An effective packaging Internet marketing strategy makes a firm’s products and services visible on Google to people who are looking for them, but don’t know the firm or know that the firm sells them.
Who is using Google to find packaging suppliers?
- Purchasing personnel
- Product designers
- Packaging designers
- Packaging engineers
- Warehouse managers
- Production managers
- Small business owners
- Mailing room personnel
- Quality control personnel
- Companies with sustainability programs
- Companies with supplier diversity programs
All of these individuals have buying authority and/or buying influence, and they are all looking for something different in a packaging product, service and supplier.
Making your company visible to the right search engine users, generating relevant website traffic and producing ever-increasing leads or online revenue — on a sustainable budget — are the goals of a well-conceived packaging Internet marketing strategy.
The 3 Essentials of Successful Internet Marketing for Packaging
Many Internet marketing options are available to packaging companies. One element is mandatory, and two others stand out from the crowd.
1. The Company Website
If a packaging company’s website is below par, Internet marketing campaigns will be held back or perhaps impossible to implement. Critical components of the company website include:
- Backend systems for tracking phone and form conversions
- Effective calls to action and other vital conversion rate optimization (CRO) features
- Fast page loading
- Intuitive navigation and other vital usability features
- Responsive design for easy mobile use
- SEO-ready construction so Google crawlers can interpret the content
- Strong communication of the company’s value proposition
2. SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) strives to make a packaging firm’s website content appear as prominently as possible in Google’s organic search results. Thus, when search engine users (say, packaging engineers) enter a search phrase for your product/service, your most relevant website page will appear and catch their attention.
SEO is a long-term, proven strategy that requires exceedingly sophisticated keyword research (to target the right search phrases for which to optimize), and rigorous, ongoing technical execution both on and off the website.
The payoff: Ever-improving organic search visibility, driving more and better sales leads and e-commerce traffic.
3. PPC
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising makes use of online ad platforms — Google AdWords, in particular — to drive sales leads or online revenue. After intensive keyword research is completed, ads are created that, after successful bids, appear to Google users inputting those search terms.
PPC can be highly effective in the short term, as it enables a company to “jump the line” and appear at the top of Google, ahead or organic search results. PPC campaigns can be modest, moderate or extensive in keyword and audience scope, giving companies a lot of budgeting flexibility.
The payoff: Immediate and long term, continually improving lead or revenue generation.
SEO and PPC work very well in tandem. Depending on budget and specific short- and long-term marketing objectives, one or both may be desirable.